Here’s Why You Should Own the Succession Process

Did you catch our article last week? If you did, you know we spoke about talent management dashboards. One of the things recruiters and hiring managers use a dashboard for is succession planning. While it’s important to have a succession plan in place for when one of your (senior) people leaves, retires or even worse, suddenly passes away, too many companies still aren’t prepared for this kind of situation.

Let me tell you why you should own the succession process.

First of all, for your employees. Having a proper succession plan in place for your staff gives your employee engagement levels a big boost; people know there is a long-term plan for them which shows the organization they work for is committed to them. At their turn, happy, engaged employees are more likely to stay at a company that has a well-thought-out career program in store for them.

Secondly, there is the money side of things. Not having a solid succession plan in place can come with a hefty price tag. Let’s take the role of CEO for instance. Each year, between 10% and 15% of organizations need to appoint a new CEO. Hiring an external, last-minute replacement can be tricky; he or she hasn’t been ‘brought up’ in the company (culture), shareholders may not be happy with an external CEO appointment etc.

Not to mention the indirect costs of not having a succession plan: a lack of trained people ready to take on a new role when necessary will prevent a business from growing quickly or simply continue its business as usual. It can lead to rushed recruitment decisions, hiring new staff that’s not necessarily a good fit, etc.

In other words: plan ahead.

Of course, you can never be prepared for the unexpected. But just being ready for the expected – those babyboomers you know that will leave over the next couple of years for example – is a good place to start. In case you’re not entirely convinced yet, you may want to have a look at the infographic below.

Author: Neelie Verlinden

Neelie Verlinden is the Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Digital HR Tech. She’s an experienced digital HR & HR Tech writer, speaker, and entrepreneur with an international background. She has written countless articles on all things HR technology.